Breath
by The Sword of Salvation
Summary: In the Omega Ruins, separated from their summoner, Lulu learns what it means to live and let go with the aid of the Legendary Guardian. "Save your breath, woman."


**This is The Sword of Salvation once again bringing you an attempt of a decent fanfiction. This is my second attempt at trying a fanfiction because "Weapon XIII" worked out so well... So I want to give you a bit of a summary of this fic to try and help you understand the craziness going on in my head. This is an idea I actually thought about whilst driving to work one day, and I couldn't get it out of my head. Needless to say it's an Au/Lu pairing and it was influenced by the wonderful band Breaking Benjamin. Their song "Breath" was the inspiration to this ficlet, and it's from Lulu's point of view during a battle while watching Auron fight. Not a very good summary, I know, but I hope the story will be better than how I can briefly describe. Now, without further ado, I give you "Breath". Enjoy, and read and review!**

**-The Sword of Salvation-**

_I see nothing in your eyes_

_And the more I see the less I like_

_Is it over yet, in my head?_

His cold, hard stare was set upon the faceless fiend and I watched in terror as he was struck in the shoulder. The Legendary Guardian, the one we thought of as unshakable, indestructable, was bleeding profusely from the wound the fiend had inflicted upon him. My hand automatically went up to my mouth as I stared in shock at the warrior fall. What was I doing? Watching a guardian fall in battle to a fiend that had attacked me in the first place, and here I was doing _nothing..._Get it together, Lulu. What would Chappu think? I heard his words in my mind and shook my head vigorously to empty them. No Chappu! You do not control my thoughts anymore! I opened my eyes and looked to where I saw Auron fall. He was standing, but blood was pouring down his dark red robe.

_I know nothing of your kind_

_And I won't reveal your evil mind_

_Is it over yet, I can't win._

He glanced toward me and I lowered my hand from my mouth. I heard him grunt in pain, and that's when my feet allowed me to move. Damn these ruins; we should've trained harder before we even considered coming here! Auron and I had become separated from the rest of the group when we encountered the faux Omega Weapon, and we've been stumbling through the darkness ever since. My only concern is everyone getting out of here safely, and I pray that Yuna is unharmed. Pray? Foolish me. There is no one to pray to now. Just as Yuna said, the basis of everything we've ever known was built on false hope. A loud and vicious noise brought me back to my senses as I reassessed my situation.

"Are you going to stand there, woman, or are you going to help me defeat this fiend?" Auron's deep, husky voice snapped at me. I looked up into his face, shielded by the cowl and sunglasses that hid the deep scars from his previous pilgrimage, and saw a powerful anger clouding his vision. His bronze eye was harsh, and it hurt for me to look into its depth. I let out a breath and turned my attention to the fiend in front of us. I summoned all of the power that I was capable of and my moogle jumped from my arms. I felt the fire in my eyes radiate throughout my body as I uttered the word, "Ultima". I closed my eyes once more as the spell struck the fiend where it stood, and explode into a large cloud of pyreflies.

_So sacrifice yourself_

_And let me have what's left_

_I know that I can find _

_The fire in your eyes_

_I'll go in all the way_

_Get away, please..._

_You take the breath right out of me_

_You've left a hole where my heart should be_

_You've got to fight just to make it through_

_'Cause I will be the death of you._

My face felt like it was still on fire as I opened my eyes. I realized that Auron's arm needed tending to, and I was grateful that Rikku had lent me some of her Al Bhed potions and medical supplies before we exited the Airship. I reached into my sleeve and withdrew one of the potions as Auron hatefully looked at me. I could play this game as well...

"Are you alright, Sir Auron?" I asked him.

"Fine," was his simple response. Though I knew Auron was a man of few words, I also knew that he lied to protect the others.

"You don't look fine. We need to take care of your arm. Let me help you." I said, placing my hands on his robe and carefully undoing the buckles to remove it. He jerked from me at first, and I saw him wince when he did. "You're being childish about this. I'm only trying to help you." I said unthinkingly.

When I realized what I had said, I immediatly dropped my hands from his robe and looked straight ahead of me, avoiding the eye that had sent chills up my spine before.

"What did you call me?" Auron asked, but his voice was not hostile.

"I called you childish." I said, gathering up the courage to look him in the eye.

I could not see any emotion clouding his eye this time, but I believed that I had hurt or insulted him. Silence followed as I dressed his wound. He didn't fight me, he didn't express any emotion, he didn't utter a word.

_This will be all over soon_

_Pour the salt into the open wound_

_Is it over yet?_

_Let me in!_

I wondered if I should apologize, or if that would upset him anymore, though at this time I just wanted some sort of response out of him. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were stuck in my throat. Without looking at me, he said, "We should find Yuna. This place is far too ominous and dangerous for her."

I closed my mouth and simply nodded, deciding that this was not the right time to express such a trivial thing as empathy toward him. We walked in silence and I lit the way with a ball of fire in the palm of my hand. I desperately wanted to apologize to him, for I couldn't bear to have one more soul added to the list of people I've hurt over the years. Speak, Lulu...

_I'm waiting_

_I'm hating_

_Realizing_

_Start hiding_

"Auron," I began." I want to apologize for what I said earlier. It was out of place and-"

"Save your breath." he interrupted me.

I was taken aback by his words, but I deserved his backlash. I offended him, and I wanted him to feel something rather than being numb as he had since Zanarkand. I clenched my jaw, and waited for him to continue. A few moments later he did.

"No one has ever spoken so frankly to me as you have, Lulu. For that I thank you. Do not apologize for something that was...something a friend would say. I have not felt friendship for ten years, and for your empathy towards me, I thank you. For, I should be the one to apologize to you. I hurt you, I can see it in your eyes. I am deeply sorry for offending you when you were being generous toward me. I hope you will forgive me, Lulu."

I took in his words and stored them away in my mind. These words replaced Chappu immediately, and I felt a warmness I had not felt in a while. I walked closer to the man in red, and whispered," I forgive you."

_So sacrifice yourself_

_And let me have what's left_

_I know that I can find _

_The fire in your eyes_

_I'll go in all the way_

_Get away, please..._

_You take the breath right out of me_

_You've left a hole where my heart should be_

_You've got to fight just to make it through_

_'Cause I will be the death of you._

**Well that turned out better than I thought it would...I really appreciate reviews and all of you lovely people who take the time to read such things as this. Believe it or not, it means a lot. I hope you all enjoyed "Breath", and I will try to get something else together real soon. If you have any requests, feel free to email me or PM me, and I'll do the best I can to please you. Thanks for reading!**

**-The Sword of Salvation-**


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